Hand and finger exerciser

ABSTRACT

A hand and finger exerciser comprising a parallel bar inner frame slidably supported for reciprocating movement within the plane of an outer frame to which one of the crossbars of the inner frame is anchored by a plurality of rubber bands. A sleeve rotatably mounted on the opposite parallel crossbar of the inner frame is adapted to be gripped by four fingers of the user&#39;s open hand whose palm and thumb engage the adjacent bar of the outer frame. The sleeve rotates as the user closes his hand and thus facilitates natural movements of the fingers for optimum therapeutic exercising of tendons and muscles of the hand and forearm. The uniformly transversely spaced rubber bands are looped over adjacent bars of the inner and outer frames and the ends of each band are looped over an anchor pin on the outer frame for easy removal or attachment by the user without special tools. The inner frame as well as the rubber bands and anchor pins are disposed inside the outer frame, thus resulting in a compact mechanism.

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 244,969, Apr. 17, 1972(since abandoned) which was an application for reissue of Pat. No.3,570,849. .Iaddend.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to hand exercisers of the type which the useroperates by opening and closing his hand against the pull of an elastictensioning mechanism.

The utility of a hand exerciser is directly related to its capability orefficiency in restoring deteriorated hand and forearm muscles andtendons. The degree and nature of such deterioration which controls theprescribed treatment varies widely from patient to patient andcontinually changes for each patient during the course of successfultreatment. The pull or tension developed by the exerciser mechanism musttherefore be changeable by the user or his doctor over a wide range ofvalues and in many increments as the patient improves. For example, apatient recovering from third degree burns on a hand may be capable ofexerting only 0.1 to 0.3 ounce of muscular tension with that hand at theoutset of treatment and 2.5 to 3 pounds of pull when treatment iscomplete. In such a case the patient's rate of recovery may require asmany as 25 to 30 tension adjustments in the exerciser.

Another measure of the utility of hand exercisers is their capability ofuniformly applying a yielding force to their user's fingers whilepermitting natural movements of the hand as it opens and closes. Properrestoration of hand and arm muscles and tendons requires such naturalmovements of all parts of the hand. Prior devices with fixed finger gripmembers have tended to restrain or inhibit the desired curling movementof the hand as it closes, and pivot action exercisers nonuniformly applya tension force across the hand at any one instant. Such deficiencies inpresent exercisers become even more significant with severely damaged ordeteriorated hands at the beginning of therapeutic treatment whendigital movement is weak and small.

A general object of this invention is the provision of a hand exerciserof simple inexpensive construction which is easily adjusted to provideyieldable forces having an extremely wide range of values.

A further object is the provision of a hand exerciser which applies atension force uniformly to all fingers during opening and closing of thehand.

Still another object is the provision of such an exerciser whichfacilitates natural movements of the hand as it closes against theapplied tension force.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A plane inner frame is reciprocably rectilinearly movable within theplane of an outer frame and is releasably resiliently coupled across itswidth to one end of the outer frame by a plurality of parallel rubberbands. Each rubber band is looped over an anchor peg on the outer frameand thus is easily removed or reconnected by the user. The finger gripbar of the inner frame is constructed to permit rotation of the user'sfingers as the hand is opened and closed, thus facilitating naturalfinger movements and inducing uniform tensioning of muscles and tendons.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hand and finger exerciser embodyingthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 3--3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a part of a section similar to FIG. 3 showing an extension capmodification for adjusting the grip bar spacing for different handsizes;

FIG. 5 is a view of the outer surface of the thumb grip bar taken online 5--5 of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 6-A, 6-B and 6-C are schematic diagrams showing the steps ofattaching one of the rubber bands to the exerciser; and

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are diagrams of the exerciser as gripped by a user'shand in the fully opened, partially closed and fully closed positions,respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A hand exerciser 10 embodying the invention comprising a rectangularouter frame 11 and a rectangular inner frame 12 supported within frame10 for longitudinal reciprocatory movement. Frame 11 compriseslongitudinally spaced parallel cross bars 13 and 14 secured to laterallyspaced parallel posts 15 and 16 which preferably are press-fitted inrecesses 18 and 19 (see FIG. 2) in bars 13 and 14, respectively. Frame12 comprises cross bars 21 and 22 longitudinally spaced apart a fixeddistance by parallel posts 23 and 24 adjacent to and inside outer frameposts 15 and 16, respectively, and secured within recesses 25 and 26(see FIG. 3) in cross bars 21 and 22, respectively, by suitable meanssuch as cement. Bars 21 and 22 of the inner frame have end openings 27and 28, respectively, through which outer frame posts 15 and 16 extendwith sufficient clearance to permit sliding movement of the inner frametherealong with minimum lateral play.

In order to facilitate natural curling movements of the fingers of theuser as his hand is closed into a fist, cross bar 22 of the inner framepreferably is cylindrical and a similarly shaped sleeve 30 is mountedthereon between posts 23 and 24. In a simplified form of the invention,sleeve 30 has an interior diameter slightly greater than the outsidediameter of cross bar 22 so as to be free to rotate thereabout. Bearingsand other antifriction means between sleeve 30 and bar 22 may beemployed to permit relatively uninhibited rotational movement of thesleeve relative to the bar so as to encourage the natural roll of theuser's fingers as the fist is formed around bar 14 and sleeve 30.

An important feature of the invention is the uniform distribution oftensioning means across the full width of the exerciser thus insuringthe uniform distribution of force across the full width of the user'shand and to all of his fingers. In a preferred form of the invention,the tensioning means comprises a plurality of elastic of rubber bands 32such as endless bands, which are looped around bars 13 and 21 of theouter and inner frames, respectively. In order to permit relatively easymounting and dismounting of the rubber bands, anchor pegs 34 are mountedon cross bar 13 and project outwardly therefrom preferably in the planeof outer frame 13 and toward bar 21, i.e., parallel to side posts 15 and16. Pegs 34 are equally spaced across the span between posts 15 and 16and are of sufficient length to hold the ends of the rubber bands thatare looped around them. In addition, the pegs serve as stops to limitthe travel of the inner frame 12 toward bar 13 and prevent an impact ofcross bar 21 against the bands.

Each rubber band 32 is mounted on the device as follows: the band isfirst looped over a peg so as to anchor one "end" of the band to it, seeFIG. 6-A. The two strands of the band then, in succession, are woundclockwise as viewed, almost entirely around bar 13, see FIG. 6-B, arewrapped half-way around bar 21 of inner frame 12, and finally are woundagain around bar 13 to allow the opposite "end" of the band to be loopedover the peg, see FIG. 6-C. Since the portions of the band adjacent bothof the anchored ends extend from the peg around bar 13, tensioning ofthe band during exercising movements of the inner frame 12 serves tolock the band more securely on the peg. In other words, the band isself-locking and can be disengaged only by deliberate action of theuser. On the other hand, the technique of attaching or disengaging aband to or from the exerciser is relatively simple and may be achievedby hand with little effort or skill. Thus, the number and/or variety ofbands for the exerciser may readily be changed by the user to vary thetension required or desired to follow a prescribed therapeutic program.It should be noted that the bands 32 may be the standard householdvariety which are not only inexpensive but also are readily available inmany sizes so as to permit the user a very wide selection in adaptingthe exerciser to his particular requirement.

In order to configure the outer frame to more comfortably fit the user'shand, bar 14 has an oval shaped central part with flat inner and outersurfaces 14a and 14b. The outer surface 14b is adapted to rest againstthe lower portion of the user's palm (or base of the thumb) and the flatshape tends to increase the stability of his grip on the device. Ifdesired, a friction strip 36 of roughened material may be applied tosurface 14b to prevent relative movement of the bar 14 on the user'spalm.

The operation of the exerciser is illustrated in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9. Theuser's hand H is almost fully opened as shown in FIG. 7 to permit theupper ends of his fingers F to be curled over sleeve 30 on bar 22 andthe base of his thumb T to be pressed against the lower surface 14b ofbar 14. The spacing between bars 22 and 14 with bar 21 engaging pegs 34determines the maximum opening of the user's hand at which tension maybe applied to the rubber bands by the user's hand. This initial gripspacing may be varied as desired or required by extension caps 38recessed to fit over one or more pegs 32, see FIG. 4, to better adaptthe exerciser for different hand sizes.

As soon as the user begins to close his grip around bars 22 and 14, theinner frame moves away from bar 13 and tension is applied across thewidth of the hand by bands 32. The tension force is determined, interalia, by the elasticity of the bands and their length, i.e., the initialtensioning on the bands, which can be varied as desired by the usersimply by selection from a supply of bands and installation on thedevice as described above. Also, the number of bands used may be variedfor this purpose. As the grip closes, the fingers F naturally roll aboutthe axis of bar 22 as shown in FIG. 8. Sleeve 30 on bar 22 facilitatesthis natural finger movement so that the energy of the user isefficiently expended in tensioning the hand rather than in overcomingfriction between the fingers and movable frame parts. The finger rollcontinues until the grip is fully closed as shown in FIG. 9 with thetips of the fingers engaging or nearly engaging bar 14. The inner frameis then allowed to return to the initial position under the tension ofthe bands.

While movement of the inner frame through its full stroke has beendescribed above as illustrative of one exercising cycle, it will beunderstood that the full stroke often may be the patient's end objectiveafter a series of treatments extending over a prescribed period of time.Initially, the patient may be able to move the inner frame but a smallfraction of the full stroke. As treatment continues, the stroke maygradually lengthen in proportion to success of the treatment and asstrength in the hand returns. The exerciser 10 is particularly welladapted to provide the patient and doctor with a precise measurement ofsuch progress through calibrated stroke-length marks 40 on either ofposts 15 or 16.

An exerciser 10 embodying my invention has been constructed andsuccessfully tested and has the following physical characteristics:

Length L of outer frame--6"

Width W of outer frame--4.75"

Length L' of inner frame--2.375"

Cross bars 13, 14, 21, 22:

Diameter--0.5"

Material--wood dowel

Maximum stroke--2.0"

Weight--4.0 oz.

Tensioning means:

Length of band--4.125"

Number of bands--1 to 5

I claim:
 1. A hand exerciser comprisingan outer frame having a pair oflongitudinally spaced cross bars, an inner frame supported on and withinsaid outer frame for reciprocative movement in a common plane and havinga pair of longitudinally spaced cross bars, one of the cross bars ofsaid inner frame having a rotatable finger grip thereon, tensioningmeans coupling the other cross bar of the inner frame to the adjacentcross bar of the outer frame, and a plurality of transversely spacedanchor means mounted on one of said coupled cross bars substantiallyacross the width of the inner frame, said tensioning means comprisingarubber band for each of said anchor means, each of said bands beinglooped around the other of said coupled bars and having its oppositeends looped over the same anchor means.
 2. The exerciser according toclaim 1 in which said one of the cross bars is a cylinder with apredetermined diameter, said finger grip comprising a cylindrical sleevehaving a diameter slightly greater than said predetermined diameter. 3.The exerciser according to claim 1 in which said anchor means abut theother of said coupled cross bars at one limit of movement of the innerframe relative to the outer frame, said bands being in tension when theinner frame is at said limit of movement.
 4. The exerciser according toclaim 3 in which the outer frame cross bar opposite said adjacent crossbar has a flat outer surface, and friction means on said surface.
 5. Ahand exerciser comprisingan outer rectangular frame havinglongitudinally spaced cross bars and laterally spaced posts secured toand spacing said cross bars apart, an inner frame having longitudinallyspaced cross bars and laterally spaced side posts between said firstnamed side posts and secured to and spacing said inner frame cross barsapart,said inner frame cross bars having aligned openings thereinthrough which said side posts of the outer frame extend, whereby theinner frame is reciprocally movable longitudinally within said outerframe, tensioning means for elastically coupling an outer frame crossbar to the adjacent cross bar of the inner frame, a plurality oflaterally spaced pegs mounted on one of said coupled cross bars betweenand parallel to the outer frame posts, said tensioning meanscomprisingan endless rubber band for each of said pegs, each of saidbands being looped around the other of said coupled cross bars withopposite ends of the band anchored on the same peg, the inner framecross bar opposite the coupled bar of the inner frame beingcylindrically shaped and having a predetermined diameter, a cylindricalsleeve rotatably mounted on said cylindrically shaped cross bar wherebythe user's fingers on said sleeve tend to roll therewith around thelatter cross bar when the hand is closed and opened.
 6. The exerciseraccording to claim 5 with at least three pegs and bands uniformly spacedacross the span between the side posts of the outer frame, said pegsabutting the adjacent cross bar at one limit of movement of the innerframe, said bands being in tension when the inner frame is at said limitof movement. .Iadd.
 7. A hand exerciser comprising an outer frame havinga pair of longitudinally spaced cross bars with one cross bar adapted tofit in the palm of the hand, an inner frame supported on and within saidouter frame for reciprocative movement in a common plane, said innerframe having means defining a pair of longitudinally spaced cross bars,asingle elongate, cylindrical, rotatable finger grip carried by saidinner frame and mounted for free rotation about the axis of the one ofthe defined cross bars of said inner frame adjacent said one cross barof the outer frame, tensioning means coupling the other cross bar of theinner frame to the other cross bar of the outer frame, and a pluralityof transversely spaced individual discrete anchor and stop means mountedon one of said coupled cross bars, said tensioning means comprising atleast one elastic band looped around the other of said coupled bars andhaving its ends anchored to said discrete anchor means, said anchor andstop means serving to limit the travel of the inner frame and preventimpact of the other cross bar of the inner frame against the elasticband. .Iaddend..Iadd.
 8. A hand exerciser comprising an outerrectangular frame having longitudinally spaced cross bars one of whichis adapted to fit in the palm of the hand and laterally spaced postssecured to and spacing said cross bars apart, an inner frame havinglongitudinally spaced cross bars and laterally spaced side posts betweensaid first named side posts,said side posts of said inner framesupporting said inner frame cross bars in spaced apart relation, saidinner frame cross bars having openings therein through which said sideposts of the outer frame extend, whereby the inner frame is reciprocallymovable longitudinally within said outer frame, a single cylindricalsleeve freely rotatable about the one of the cross bars of said innerframe adjacent said one of the cross bars of the outer frame to form agrip to be grasped within all the fingers of a user's hand, tensioningmeans for elastically coupling the other outer frame cross bar to theother cross bar of the inner frame, a plurality of laterally spaced pegsmounted on one of said coupled cross bars between and protruding towardsaid adjacent cross bar, said tensioning means comprisingat least oneelastic band,said elastic band being looped around the other of saidcoupled cross bars with the ends thereof anchored to the pegs, said pegsadditionally serving to limit the travel of the inner frame to preventimpact of the other cross bar of the inner frame against said at leastone elastic band. .Iaddend.